Compassion, a BFS and Quaker tradition

The program of our first
commencement, from 1910

BFS has always strived to be compassionate for its community, particularly for its students, both while enrolled at our school and forever after. Compassion is often found at the core of the Quaker Testimonies. One of the nicest BFS archival finds remains the "BFS chapter" from the personal memoir of Dorothea Gillette Murray, our first woman graduate, a member of our first graduating class of 1910. Originally written for her grandchildren, Mrs. Murray kindly gave BFS a copy of the BFS chapter of her memoir in the 1970s with permission to reprint. Mrs. Murray's words give great insight into our school's tradition of academic excellence and also to the tradition of compassionate caring BFS has striven to give its students since 1867.

Mrs. Murray indicated in her memoir that her family consisted of only her and her mother, a working woman - an unusual family for BFS at that time. It seems there was deep compassion for this family from our school and New York Monthly Meeting. Mrs. Murray attended BFS with some financial aid, but her memoir shows it seems to have been more of a work-study program in her final student years. Financial aid for a non-Quaker like Mrs. Murray was unusual at the time: for many years, the children of members of New York Monthly Meeting were educated free-of-charge at Brooklyn Friends School and Friends Seminary, a practice made possible by the interest from certain monies of New York Monthly Meeting that were used to fund their unpaid tuition. Mrs. Murray indicated further, "[Principal] Mr. Rawson got me a partial scholarship to Swarthmore College and later in my freshman year got hold of the rest of the tuition money for that same year." Not only did Mrs. Murray graduate Swarthmore, but she received her Masters from Columbia. A public school educator, Mrs. Murray was also an active retiree who sought to help her community by giving back to BFS, by working for peace, and by teaching English as a Second Language from 1960 to at least 1975, when, at 83 years old, she decided to share a chapter of her memoir with BFS.

A little over a year ago, while researching in Proceedings of New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends for 1910, Mrs. Murray's experience at BFS sprang to mind since she entered BFS in 1899, plus there was only one other non-Quaker in her 1910 graduating class of five and he seems to have gone to Harvard. From the Education Committee's Report to NYYM, delivered by the Schools Board Chairman, Will Walter Jackson in May, 1910: "The case has arisen of a pupil who has been in one of our schools for eleven years and is now ready for Swarthmore, but who is not a member of this society. The committee asks, if there should be an unexpended balance this year, the Meeting would be willing for a portion of it to be used in this or similar cases." It seems more than probably that this request was for Mrs. Murray and that it was granted

Such a request by the Schools Board Chair may have more typically occurred for Quaker children attending Quaker colleges. Additionally, many of those institutions regularly received financial contributions from Friends Meetings and were helped by broad solicitations by many Friends Meetings to their members, work which helped build those college's endowments. Dorothea Gillette Murray, BFS Class of 1910, seems to show our school's earliest known effort in assisting a non-Quaker student in need. She may have been grateful to BFS, but our school is probably even more grateful to her.

Remembering Benjamin R. Burdsall, 1903-1968

Got to thinking about Benjamin R. Burdsall this week as our Upper School faculty has been doing its own thinking about recipients of our annual awards for the Upper School closing ceremony on June 9. Today seems a good day to remember who Mr. Burdsall was for so many at BFS and why BFS gives a scholarship in his memory. BFS encourages the entire BFS community to be deeply involved in and concerned with the life of the school. Among the myriad opportunities for involvement are celebrating reunions at Alumni Day and attending special events like the Spring Gala, giving annually to the Brooklyn Friends Fund, volunteering as a PAT class parent, a Brooklyn Friends Fund class agent or as a guest speaker at BFS - contact the Development and Alumni Office at 718-852-1029, ext. 211 or ext. 208 to learn about such opportunities and much more. BFS also encourages giving to the school to honor and celebrate special people and milestones in our lives. 

One special gift celebrated a 50th reunion and was sufficient to create a separate endowment fund which has enabled BFS to annually remember our 1934-1968 English teacher and Upper School Head Benjamin R. Burdsall, 1903-1968. Thanks to the generosity of the BFS Class of '49 in celebration of its 50th reunion, BFS has given an Upper School junior the Benjamin R. Burdsall Scholarship of $500 towards his/her senior year's tuition for the last decade. The recipient demonstrates the commitment to public service that Mr. Burdsall encouraged in his students and the scholarship helps BFS honor its excellent students of today who emulate the enduring values of a Brooklyn Friends education, the same values Mr. Burdsall helped his students develop in themselves. Through his actions and words and his deep sense of responsibility and commitment to international law and peace, Mr. Burdsall guided his students at BFS to a deeper and more internalized understanding of Quakerism, of what the values of integrity and excellence, compassion and community can help achieve for our own selves and for our world.

After his death, the Class of '69 included this line in their yearbook: "Benjamin R. Burdsall was a man of that peace and gentleness which inspired love in all who met him." One '69 graduate included the following on his personal page of that yearbook: "Mr. Benjamin Burdsall - The only person I had ever met who always had time to guide and advise no matter how complicated or trivial the question or problem." In the words of his student, the late L. Ronald Scheman '49, founder of the Pan American Development Foundation, "I am sure today Mr. Burdsall would be deeply involved in getting students to address the issues of climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, and education. In all, he was a man who, with his gentle, caring manner, opened the world to us and wanted to help his students to be positive, constructive global citizens. If he had the opportunity to talk to BFS students today I am sure he would ask them about their primary concerns for our country and for ensuring the health and safety of our planet. And he would give them a lot to think about to help them define the vision for their lives. "

For generations at BFS, Mr. Burdsall inspired many of his students and the Class of '49 was further inspired to give that inspiration back to BFS. How are we inspired today, individually and collectively, and by whom and by what? 

Tribute to Mr. Benjamin R. Burdsall from the October 30, 1968 edition of The Life

Mr. Burdsall must have had a fine sense of humor as shown
on the right in this photo from a 1940s BFS Variety Show

In Meeting
by Benjamin R. Burdsall
published in Friends Journal, June 15, 1968

My ship is now in harbor;

Its sails are furled,

And gentle waves

Make peaceful murmurings

Along the shore

My friends are here to greet me

And to tell

Of what is closest to their hearts

Now that the journey of the week is o'er.

Tomorrow I shall once more set the sails

And head again for an uncertain sea,

But I shall have a compass and a star

And vision that this hour has given me.

Let Your Films Speak: The Bridge Film Festival,15 Years Young

"Know your history, ask questions and follow your heart." 

Garrett Bradley, BFS '03, Bridge Film Festival alumna

It's Spring Break, but it's also time to reserve your tickets for the 15th annual Bridge Film Festival on Thursday, April 10 at BFS. The festival was established in 1999 at BFS by Andy Cohen, BFS director of media services, and it celebrates Quaker ideals in action via short films created by students in grades 5 through 12 from Friends schools and Friends meetings around the world. Judges are members of the film industry and related fields, and selecting finalists is always difficult. Festival director Andy Cohen was interviewed in 2009 on the origins of the Bridge Film Festival. In its short history, the Bridge Film Festival has become an important way for young artists to connect and collaborate while creating purposeful, values-based films which spring from their common background in Quakerism. The founder of Quakerism George Fox once famously stated "Let your life speak," so the Bridge Film Festival encourages young filmmakers to "Let your films speak."

Gatekeeper No More

1940, BFS Principal Douglas Grafflin's Address to the
Trustees of the Schools of New York Monthly Meeting 
proposing the enrollment of African American students at BFS. 
Please click to read Grafflin's entire address

This week, I'm unexpectedly switching gears thanks to a courageous conversation focused on the experiences of students of color in independent schools, a conversation that occurred at the BFS Alumni/ae Facebook group thanks to Bernard Dory '88, who shared the October, 2012 New York Times article, "Admitted, But Left Out." When it comes to our school's history, I wind up being a "gatekeeper," a word I despise and first reluctantly applied to myself in 2007 while attending an Undoing Racism workshop with other BFS employees. All institutions are imperfect and our school is no different. As it did in the past, our school tries, learns and grows today - such is the nature of Quakerism's continuing revelation. 

Answers from Our Ancestors: The Jacksons on BFS, Friends Education and Quakerism

Will Walter Jackson

Unlike computers or labs or books, defining the heart of Brooklyn Friends School is difficult. That heart is rooted in Quakerism and we do try to explain these "intangibles" which are shared and passed down, and which can be extremely personal to each individual. They make up the very air we breathe at our school, but to understand the things that make us who we are and that make BFS what it is one can look to our school's history for insights from those who came before us.